EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS

I feel full to the top of my head with information, impressions and emotions. Despite my previous awareness of the situation of the Palestinian people, I have been stunned again and again by the awful reality of the effects of the occupation on their lives.

I see a nation stained with the blood of their brother. I see people flooding into the holy sites to find God without pity or remorse for the Palestinian genocide that is being supported through their churches and tithe. I have a question for the Zionists and the Evangelicals, what will you do if the God of Israel is not the God of the “uniquely Israeli people” of which the court found no proof, but the God of the people who are being murdered and pillaged?

The visit by our group to the al-Naqab Desert produced some very valuable information. Our visit with a Palestinian Bedouin village laid out in stark clarity the oppression faced in the area. Israel has taken over much of the land, and co-opted even the traditional names of the villages in the Naqab. The Israelis call the desert the Negev, and now assert their identity on the region which was once entirely Palestinian Bedouin. It is an arid region where few ventured prior to the 1948 Nakba.

Military presence and eclectic reading. In Palestine/Israel, myriad soldiers with machine guns inhabit the public spaces. I wasn't used to the military in the forefront of my environment. With only 1 percent of the U.S. population serving in the military, national service seems abstract, out of sight and out of mind. But in Israel, everyone is required to serve for three years.

When Israel takes bold actions, it is often in the name of security. The wall between the West Bank and the internationally recognized border of Israel (note: Israel, continually confiscating more territory in its bid to expand, does not recognize this border) was erected supposedly for security. Gaza is under blockade for Israel's security.

Two of us had been invited to spend the night at the home of Naji Owdah at the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. As he lead us into the house he said: "We'll close the windows at night in case of a tear gas attack." A normal enough warning considering the circumstances under which Palestinians live.

I grew up wondering how the holocaust could have happened. As a child, I could not understand why no one stopped it. (Children can think quite clearly at times.) Sadly, I learned later that most Germans and most of the rest of the world were silent. They did not know or didn't want to know what was happening, despite the evidence all around them.

During the days of early national socialism, Nazi Germany spread a message that the Jewish people were evil, sub-human and all sorts of criminals based on their ethnicity. The sad reality is that message has been used against the Arab people and the Palestinian people, especially, so that their cries for help are ignored. Often collectively referenced as terrorists, they have become the definition of a stereotype.

Overwhelming trip. Proud and thankful to be a part of THIS delegation. This doesn't feel like a vacation; it feels like a big responsibility. Huge realization: Israel considers any Palestinian defiance illegal... No wonder so many Palestinians are in Israeli jails.

Half of the Palestinian population is under 18. With so many of the Palestinian population this young, one can only look forward with optimism. The Palestinians are among the most highly educated people in the world. However, leading this statistic, it is the girls that are becoming highly educated, while the boys are less likely to go to university.

EDITORS NOTE: This twitter story from delegate @FalafelDad describes some of the challenges of Palestinian youth, systematically criminalized and incarcerated by Israeli occupying forces and police. The tweets below feature the delegation’s visit to the Al-Fara’a Prison, a former detention facility where Israeli occupying soldiers held Palestinian minors:

EDITORS NOTE: Donald Trump arrived in Israel on Monday, on the 36th day of the hunger strike initiated by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Palestinians responded by fasting in solidarity, calling a general strike, and holding a day of demonstrations in many cities and towns.

I had dinner last night in West Jerusalem with a colleague from Ben Gurion University. West Jerusalem, seen from the vantage of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, is a study in uneven development. Theaters and concert halls, private institutes and libraries, museums of Islamic arts, the Knesset--which proudly occupies a high point in the city—and restaurants full of well-dressed cosmopolitan and secular Israelis consuming pork and shellfish, which figures prominently on the menu.

Now I am able to realize a “wish” of nearly 50 years - to come to Palestine and see this “beautiful country” and its brilliant, resilient people. But I must reckon with the reality that being here is largely a matter of privilege - as a white, Ashkenazi Jewish middle-class woman with a U.S. passport.

I was surprised to learn that Israel has two separate court systems: the normal justice system for Israeli citizens and a military justice system for the Palestinian population under military occupation.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Delegate @FalafelDad is a Palestinian-American university student. The following is his live recounting of an experience he had when he went to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to pray the traditional morning prayers.

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